Dean Leonard Receives Citizen Laureate Award

The University at Albany Foundation Citizen Laureate Award is the highest honor granted by the University at Albany Foundation.

In his remarks, Dean Leonard thanked his wife Kristine and one professor in particular, “I would like to extend a special thank you to Professor Emeritus Ron Forbes, who is the finest educator I have ever known. Ron’s dedication to his students set standards of teaching excellence and institutional commitment that still guide my work today.

"The University has been a place of great significance in my life – a source of great inspiration and satisfaction. Over the past 28 years it has been my privilege and pleasure to work with many dedicated colleagues and with our alumni and members of the business community in pursuit of our shared vision of excellence for the School of Business. To all of you – colleagues, alumni, and friends – I offer my sincere thanks for your many contributions.”

Dr. Leonard has served as Dean of the School of Business since 2003, strengthening the School and building a more student-centered culture. Under his leadership, the School has hired eleven new faculty members, added a new freshmen direct admissions program, and created new programs in forensic accounting and financial analysis. The School of Business has intensified its outreach to alumni and business leaders in the Capital Region, having already earned a reputation in New York City. Dean Leonard has led the School through AACSB reaccreditation and has spearheaded the effort for a new state-of-the-art School of Business building.

A member of the UAlbany faculty since 1979, he has served repeatedly on the Senate, as chair and member of numerous Senate councils, and on a myriad of other University-level committees. In 2003 Professor Leonard was named a Collins Fellow in recognition of his “extraordinary devotion to the University and the people in it.”

Dean Leonard is also a well-respected and popular teacher, having received the Harold Cannon Memorial Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching, the Dean W. Warren Hynes Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching and the President’s and Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

As a researcher, he has published articles on topics relating to financial analysis, capital markets, and banking in the Journal of Financial Services Research, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Economics and Business, Journal of Business Research, Quarterly Journal of Business and Economics, Municipal Finance Journal, Journal of Applied Business Research, American Business Review, and Healthcare Financial Management.

Dr. Leonard has consulted for the New York State Banking Department, the Municipal Finance Officers Association, the Public Securities Association and many others.

Dean Leonard earned his Ph.D. at the University of Oregon (1980), and his MBA (1976) and BS (1975) degrees at the University at Albany.

The Dean shares the Citizen Laureate Award with University Council Chairperson George Phillip, Neil and Jane Golub, and colleague Dr. Leonard A. Slade Jr., director of doctoral and masters programs in humanistic and liberal studies.

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